Rise of the mobile worker means Microsoft decides to raise its licensing fees

Software giant Microsoft is to raise its licensing fees by up to 15pc in response to the proliferation of mobile devices in enterprises and the enduring bring your own device (BYOD) trend.

The rise in licence fees for client access licences (CALs) is being targeted mostly at corporations with a large percentage of information workers with mobile devices, such as smartphones and tablet computers.

CALs define server access to software via a single or various devices and are attached to applications such as Exchange, Lync, Windows Server, System Server and others.

The changes won’t affect companies that have already secured a volume licensing agreement as part of their contracts with Microsoft.

The new pricing will take effect from 1 December.

The proliferation of mobile devices largely led by Android and iOS is a kind of a boon for Microsoft as it means executives who need access to enterprise applications and cloud services via the devices of their choice is contributing to an increase in revenues at Microsoft

In April, Microsoft increased the pricing for virtualisation access to tablet devices in response to the success of Apple’s iPad.